


Moonlight

by withering_roses



Category: Dream Team - Fandom, dream - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Block Men to Make You Cry, Depression, Fluff, Internal Conflict, M/M, Minecraft, Moonlight, future islands, switching POVs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27585461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withering_roses/pseuds/withering_roses
Summary: Dream struggles with his depression while also combatting the thought that he’s in love with his best friend.The narrative switches point of view throughout, switching from George to Dream and back again.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Dream/GeorgeNotFound, dreamnotfound - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the song Moonlight by Future Islands. This was because I made a dumb Twitter post saying if Dream, George, Sapnap, and Karl won MCC, I would write DNF. And on that note, :) here you go

_**HERE’S OUR CHANCE TO MAKE IT  
MAKE THIS INTO SOMETHING MORE** _

There were days where Dream wasn’t his best and he knew it. Lashing out not only at Sapnap, but at George as well… the audience was bound to have picked that up. Light laughter and friendly teasing piled up and turned into something that left a bitter taste in his mouth the second the words left.

He would have to apologize eventually. And he would, eventually. But how could he when that metaphorical rock on his chest grew larger by the second, forcing him into the ground as the night drew closer. Even his room seemed colder, which was strange for the sunny state of Florida, often known for its onslaught of heatwaves in the summer.

He could still hear Sapnap and George talking in his ear but they just sounded impossibly far from him. It almost felt like he was floating--forever detached from the Earth that they were strongly tethered to.

Dream sat up slowly, rolling through his shoulders to bring him to his full sitting height. His hand moved over to his mouse without permission and as if being a passenger in his own body, he watched as the mouse moved to hover over the disconnect button before clicking it.

He sat back in semi-disbelief. The messages pinged on his screen but he ignored them, opting to power down his PC for the night. His headset moved off his head and onto its stand, which was just over his first monitor, and promptly collapsed in his bed. He could hear Patches’ incessant meowing from behind his door as she demanded to be let in but he could barely find the energy to roll over, let alone get out of bed to open a door.

He closed his eyes, his head full of thoughts of George. He would have scoffed if he didn’t know any better. Every single waking moment, Dream’s thoughts were just full of him. But maybe if he slept, he’d finally be free.

_**HERE’S MY HEART  
DON’T BREAK IT** _

“Is Dream okay?”

The stream had ended and their friend, who had been obviously distraught, had just left without explanation. George finished typing out a sentence, asking if Dream was okay before realizing that Sapnap had spoken to him.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Dream’s shaded out name at the bottom of the Discord sidebar had distracted him. The fact that he’d hopped off so abruptly meant that he had most likely shut down his PC and wasn’t going to get back on it anytime soon. They’d be lucky if he tweeted or even gave a sign that he was still alive.

“I asked if Dream was okay but by the way you tried to ask him in the Discord, I don’t think you know either.”

“Yeah.” He left it at that. There was nothing more to say. He didn’t have a clue about Dream’s current state of being and he doubted that Sapnap knew any more than he did. “I think I’m going to head off, too. It’s been a long day.”

“You just woke up.”

George didn’t say anything. He felt too awkward to just hang up like Dream did, instead, hoping that the awkward silence filling the space between them would be enough for Sapnap to take the hint that he just wanted to leave. It was nothing against his friend, it was just that everything with today just felt off and he’d rather go to bed earlier than stay up with his worry-filled thoughts of Dream.

“I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow then,” Sapnap resigned. “Have a good night, George.”

“Goodnight, Sapnap.”

_**IT'S ALL THAT I ASK  
NOTHING MORE** _

The following morning wasn’t anymore eventful than the night prior. Dream woke up, as always, and trudged over to his PC. He felt like a child especially after having the adult equivalent of a temper tantrum the night before. It didn’t take long for him to hop into a VC where Sapnap and George were actively having a full-on war over something. What? Dream didn’t know.

He leaned into his mic, adjusting his headphones over his head. He took a deep breath. “Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Dream!” they immediately chimed back. Dream could almost see the wide smiles on both of their faces as they greeted their friend. A weak grin appeared over his own features as a little bit of the rock on his chest lifted up, allowing him to breathe. He glanced over at George’s icon as it lit up green. “We missed you last night. Is everything alright?”

Dream hesitated. Was he alright? If anything, he should have been asking if his friends were alright after he’d snapped at them the night prior. Just because they were happy didn’t mean they were unaffected by his words. “I’m--” he was tempted to say he was fine but just envisioning George’s expression of disappointment forced out the barrage of words he’d been holding back since, well, _forever_.

“I’m actually not doing well.” The rock on his chest lifted even higher, becoming a cloud over his head. The rain that drowned him out felt somehow heavier than the rock, but it was refreshing. Those five words shifted the entire conversation and Dream felt it. Any playfulness had dissipated into the air.

When neither of them spoke, Dream took the opportunity to keep going. “I feel so… pressured to be this amazing figure for people to look up at but I just feel like a fraud, you know? Like, I’m not that perfect guy that people look up to and it's getting to me. I can physically feel it chipping away at my being and I feel less and less like myself every day.”

He stopped to take a breather. He could feel the tears burning at the back of his eyes, threatening to fall. His hands were shaking. He curled them into fists to stabilize them, getting rid of that terrible unsteady feeling growing through his body. It worked its way upward from the ground and made him feel like he was on a sinking ship.

“Dream…” George was the first to talk. “You can take a break, you know? Yes, people expect a lot from you but you are in no way obligated to fulfill every single one of their wishes. You deserve to be happy.”

 _But how could he be happy?_ Dream thought bitterly. His mind was plagued with thoughts of his best friend, thoughts that he shouldn’t have been having all the while said best friend was none the wiser.

“Yeah, what George said. I’d hate to see you go but you deserve to have some time to yourself,” Sapnap put in his two cents. “Plus, you wouldn’t be leaving for forever, right? It’s just a break. Everyone will still be here when you come back.”

“I guess…” he looked over to his closed bedroom door, remembering that he never let Patches in the night before. “I’ll think about it, maybe. Thanks for the words, you guys. It really means a lot. I’ve got to go now, though. Patches is probably waiting for me to feed her so I’ll talk to you later or something.”

_**BREAK INTO YOUR HEART  
CALLED FROM WILD AND FAR AWAY ** _

George picked up the phone. It was a few hours after Dream had confessed his feelings of anxiety and they hadn’t heard from him since. A photo of Dream, or rather his Minecraft character, lit up the screen, the incoming call instantly derailing all of his thoughts immediately.

It was rare that he used FaceTime, let alone actually give George a call. He raised the device to his ear. “Hello?”

“Thought you were gonna just let it ring, not going to lie,” Dream joked. His voice sounded further away from the phone than he probably was but the image of the blonde boy leaning back in his chair as his phone sat on his desk immediately wormed its way into George’s mind.

“I would never,” George teased, “unless I was on the toilet, I guess. Then you’d have to wait.”

Dream didn’t say anything to that, only letting out half of a laugh. Something was still off, George could tell. Dream didn’t even need to say anything for him to know, it was just a gut feeling at this point.

“What’s going on?” George ventured. He wasn’t going to come right out and accuse Dream of having a current issue. For all he knew, he was calling just to be his friend.

“Nothing much,” he said, his words barely picking up on his phone’s microphone. “There’s just… something else I wanted to get off my chest. And I didn’t know how to bring it up and I’ve been torturing myself with it all day but--” Dream made a noise of frustration-- “I’m just going to come out and say it, alright?”

“... I mean, I guess. Say whatever you need to.”

“George,” Dream took a deep breath. “I’m in love with you.”

_**CAN ANY FOOL LEARN LOVE?  
IT'S ALL THAT I ASK** _

He didn’t say anything. George didn’t say anything, which was a reaction that Dream knew to be worse than rejection. At least if George had said no, Dream wouldn’t be questioning every single life decision he’d made since birth. Maybe it was just him overthinking it, but when the line went dead and he received no answer, he immediately thought the worst.

George was disgusted with him, most likely. He wanted nothing to do with him and instead of telling him to his face, he was looking at the subtweet directed at him within the next thirty minutes. But George wasn’t like that. At least, Dream hoped he wasn’t.

If worse came to worst, he could always say he was joking before disappearing into the abyss of shame and disappointment for the rest of his life. Though, no one said he couldn’t do that now. He pushed his phone off to the side, not bothering to even plug it in. If it died, it died. It wasn’t like he really needed it for anything anymore. In order to fully transition into his existential dread, he needed to let go of all materialism and that included his phone.

But if he was so ready to disappear forever, why did his heart skip a beat when it rang not even a moment later, the ringtone he had set specifically for George going off and reverbing through his empty apartment.

Dream stared at his phone in disbelief. There was absolutely no way that George was calling him back. But just to be sure, he picked his device up and answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m so sorry, my phone just died,” George excused himself. “I had to run from my kitchen to my room to get my charger.”

“Were you cooking anything?” Dream asked. “Like on the stove?”

“Uh, no. Just getting a banana.”

The conversation ran stale. It wasn’t often that they had nothing to say to each other but they were venturing into new and unprecedented territory here. The fact that George had even bothered to call back had to have meant something, right?

_**NOTHING MORE  
NOTHING MORE** _

George didn’t know what to say. So many words unspoken whirled through his mind and as Dream knowingly sat on the other end, waiting for his answer. Or rather, waiting for an answer that George didn’t have.

All his life, he hadn’t really thought about love or what it even meant to be in love. Sure, he’d had a girlfriend or two but nothing really clicked with them and at the end of the say, they just became really good friends before eventually losing all contact.

But with Dream, with Clay, his best friend for years… it was different. He was always there, having never left in the first place. He supported George through years of slow growth and finally when he became famous, he never once thought about leaving his friends behind.

“I don’t know what to say,” at least he was being honest. He cringed at his own words. “I just--Dream, this is a lot to take in right now.”

“It’s okay,” Dream sounded far away again. “You don’t have to say anything. I know.”

But George did have to say something. Or rather, anything. It wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t. He sighed, resting his face against his phone as he listened closely to the fan running on the other end of the call.

_**SO WE JUST LAY IN BED ALL DAY  
I COULDN’T SEE THE CLOUD IN MY ARMS  
BUT IF I ASKED YOU, WOULD YOU SAY  
IT’S ONLY RAIN** _

Dream didn’t say anything. Oh, how badly he wanted an answer but he could never and would never try to force that out of his friend. And so, the cloud of gloom grew over him and the torrential downpour started, filling the room and stealing the oxygen straight from his lungs.

He wrapped his arms around his shoulders, holding himself closer. His head hung low and all he could hear was a deafening silence all around him. Finally, after a moment, he spoke.

He lifted his head and leaned in closer to his phone, setting his elbows on the edge of his desk. “George?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” Dream paused, sliding down to rest his head on his bicep. It was an awkward position but it brought him closer to the phone. “I mean, are you okay with me?”

“I’m always okay with you.”

“Even at my worst?”

“Dream,” George took a deep breath. “ _Clay_ , I love you, alright? No matter what you do, you’re always on my mind. It's a constant track playing over and over again. I daydream of you and when I go to bed to escape, there you are again. I am never not okay with you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

_**NOTHING MORE  
NOTHING MORE  
NOTHING MORE  
NOTHING MORE** _

_**HERE I LAY ME DOWN  
HERE I LAY ME DOWN  
HERE I LAY ME DOWN  
HERE I LAY ME DOWN  
HERE I LAY ME DOWN  
HERE I LAY ME DOWN** _


End file.
